We will meet again
by t0ky0-chan
Summary: It's ten years into the future and Conan, nearing the age he formally was, meets Ran in America, but he's still Conan. What happens during Ran's stay in America? Completed 04-07-04. R&R please! Formatting fixed.
1. Goodbye

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Detective Conan. All characters belong to Gosho Aoyama.  
  
Chapter 1: Good-bye  
  
"I told you that I don't know, so please stop asking me!" the young girl repeated again.  
  
"You have to know. Time is running out, Ai. I know you've got to have something. For heaven's sakes, it's been 3 years!!!!" Conan's face was red from yelling. "Why are you keeping me from turning back into Kudo Shinichi?"  
  
"What? No, I'm not. Really, Kudo." Ai held up her hands. "I would never do that."  
  
"How can I trust you? Last time you used the wine with that cold pill* to make me turn back. How can you not get information off that? It worked for quite a while didn't it?" Conan sighed. "Is it really hopeless?" he asked softly as he plopped down on the sofa.  
  
"I've tried, Kudo. I still can't find the antidote that will last. I'm sorry." Ai sat down next to Conan. "I'm really sorry."  
  
"It's alright. I'm sorry I yelled and lost my temper. I'm just having a bad day."  
  
"Hey it's alright. I know that I can't be much of a support, but I just want to let you know that if you need help, I'll be here."  
  
"Sorry, but there's really not much you can do for me anymore." Conan stood up and walked over to the window facing his house next door. "Good-bye, Kudo Shinichi, high school detective," he whispered. Ai looked toward the boy. He's almost ten now, well, twenty if he were still Kudo. He's suffered so much because of me. He lost Ran; he lost the girl that meant the most to him. Why the hell did I even make that stupid drug anyways? Ai got off the sofa and walked over to Conan. She put her hand on his shoulder. "Kudo-"  
  
"Haibara, can I ask you one last favor?" Huh? Ai thought.  
  
"Uhh, sure."  
  
"Can you make me one of those 24-hour antidotes?" He turned to look at her. He looked straight into her eyes. "This will be last time."  
  
"Okay. But what are you going to use it for?"  
  
"Nothing much." He walked past her and headed for the door. While putting on his shoes, he said, "Thanks." Then he grabbed his school bag and skateboard and left. Ai stood there, watching him leave. She had a feeling that after this, she would never see Shinichi again.  
  
"Ran-neechan, I'm home."  
  
"Oh, Conan, you're home." Ran came strolling out of the kitchen, smiling down at the young boy. "You wanna know what I made for dinner?"  
  
"...." Conan dropped his backpack on the sofa without replying.  
  
"Are you alright, Conan? You look very.pale." Ran came over, bent down and felt his forehead. Conan pushed her hand away. "I'm fine. I'm not hungry. I'm going upstairs to do my homework." He grabbed his backpack and ran out the door. "Wait," but Conan was already gone. "What's wrong?" Ran had a worried expression on her face. "I'll go see him later." She walked back to the kitchen to finish preparing dinner for herself, and her father.  
  
"What's wrong with me?" Conan thought as he lay on the mat by Kogoro's bed. "I'm treating her like an enemy. Jees, and I love her too." Conan took off his oversized glasses and placed on the floor next to him. I have to say good-bye sooner or later. Might as well get it over with earlier, he thought to himself. Conan got up and fished up the cell phone in his backpack. He dialed an all too familiar number. He had called this number three times today. They picked up on the first ring.  
  
"Kudo residence."  
  
"Mom."  
  
"Ehh, Shinichi? What's the news? You've called three times already. OH, I'm sorry I wasn't home. Your father had some work to do, and I went with him. Oh Shinichi, did you know that your father will have another book published next month and-" "That's nice, Mom. But I have something more important than that right now." Conan could tell there was strain in his voice. "Oh, Shinichi dear. What's wrong? You sound very sad." "It's like this, Mom. I know this may be kind of difficult in such a short amount of time, but I really need this." Conan took a deep breath. "I've decided that I'm going to.."  
  
"Hagase? Hagase? Umm, I need to talk to you. Could you -" Ai wandered around the house. "Oh, there you are." The professor was sitting in front of the computer, chatting with some buddies.  
"Yes, Ai-kun? You need something?" He tore his gaze from the screen to the young red haired girl in front of him. "You've been in the basement since Shinichi left. You want something to eat?"  
"No, it's alright." Ai held up a small capsule. "Shinichi asked me for one of the 24 hour antidotes today. I made one so I think you should give it him."  
"But shouldn't you give it to him yourself?"  
"Well, I'm kind of tired right now. I wanted to go to bed now. It is ten o' clock." As if. You really think a twenty one year old adult would want to go to bed at ten? Ai thought to herself.  
"Oh, well, okay," Hagase said as he glanced at the time on his computer screen. "I'll call him and have him come over. You going to take a bath?"  
"Yeah." Ai walked away.  
  
Ten minutes later, Conan was ringing the door bell to his next door neighbor. The professor opened the door and ushered the young boy in. He held out the capsule and said, "Ai wanted me to give this to you. It's the antidote for 24 hours. She didn't want to give it to you herself." Hagase pointed to the bathroom. "You going to wait for her?"  
"Sorry, no. I can't. Tell her thanks. Thanks to you, Hagase, too. Bye!" Conan reached up, grabbed the pill, stuffed it into a pocket, and ran out of the door with his skateboard. He was out of sight before Hagase could say "Wait".  
  
Shinichi was nearing the detective agency when the cell phone in his pocket rang. He got it out before the last ring.  
  
"Hello?"  
"Shinichi-kun, it's me. I've made all the arrangements," Yukiko said. "You sure about this, Shinichi?"  
  
"Yes. Did you tell Dad?"  
  
"Yeah, he's going to send a cab tomorrow night at 8. Is that okay with you?"  
  
"Yeah, cool. Can you call Hagase and Hattori for me? I know I was just at Hagase's house, but I couldn't say it."  
There was slight pause and a sigh. "Alright Shinichi. I guess it's best for you."  
"Thanks, Mom, bye." He hung up and walked up the stairs to the agency. He was Kudo Shinichi for 24 hours. He had 24 hours with Ran. Shinichi knocked on the door.  
"I'm coming," answered the familiar female voice he loved.  
The door opened slightly. "Oh my Gosh, Shinichi!" Ran gasped. She threw open the door and rushed out to hug him. Holding him in a strong embrace, Ran said, "Shinichi, I missed you." Letting go of her childhood friend, Ran said, "Where were you? You were gone for three years. I've almost given up on you and thought you were dead."  
"Ran, let me explain."  
"Come on in first." Ran led Shinichi into the brightly lit room. "My dad's asleep so don't worry."  
"Your dad's asleep already?"  
"Hey, well he was half drunk and it's past eleven."  
"Oh, right." Shinichi had forgotten that he had taken an extra trip to somewhere.  
"Shinichi." Ran had tears in her eyes, they were running down her face.  
"Are you going to stay?"  
"Ran, why do ask that?" The moment he said that he realized the answer. "Because I left you without a good-bye last time, right?"  
Ran nodded and said, "I never told you before, but when you were gone, it made realize something important. I.I love you, Shinichi. Aisteru." Ran smiled.  
"I..Ran, I love you too. He leaned over the table and held Ran's face in his hands. He kissed her.  
As the couple drew apart, Shinichi pulled out a silver ring with a gold star in the middle and got down on his knee.  
"Will you marry this idiot you've known since grade school?" He grinned.  
Ran smiled with a special gleam in her eyes. "Of course."  
  
The next morning, Ran woke up on the sofa with the jacket Shinichi had worn yesterday on top of her. Where's Shinichi? She wondered. Then she noticed the note on her cell phone.  
  
Hey Ran, I went out to get some breakfast. I'll be back in about thirty minutes.  
-Kudo Shinichi-  
  
07:09 am, Saturday, January 5th  
  
Ran grinned. She checked her watch. Seven-forty. Shinichi will be back soon.. As she walked upstairs to change, she heard her father get up.  
"Good morning, Dad."  
"Uh, um, huh." Kogoro walked into the bathroom grouchily.  
Ran finished changing and went downstairs to wait for Shinichi. Seeing that Shinichi had not come back, she walked across the street and bought a newspaper. She almost dropped the paper when she read the headlines and the two rows of fine print words immediately below it. "Oh, shit." Ran raced off to the police department as soon as her eyes told her the words said, "one victim was wearing a silver ring with a gold star".  
  
"Anybody? Hello??" Ran wandered through the office. There didn't seem to be anyone in the department.  
"Hey, it's Ran-kun." Satou and Takagi was walking down the hallway. "What brings you here?" Satou asked.  
"Umm, have you guys read the news?" Ran's voice was shaking.  
"Yeah, of course. You mean the accident?"  
Ran nodded.  
"Sure, it was pretty sad. It just happened about thirty minutes ago. Takagi and I checked both victims' cars and found out that one was a young teenager, probably your age, Ran. The other was a drunk old man. I wonder why he was drunk and driving in the broad daylight. Unfortunately for the boy, I guess he turned a corner and didn't have enough time to stop." Satou sighed and then turned her gaze from Ran's worried face to Takagi and back again. "Is something wrong?"  
"The newspaper does say that the young teenager was wearing a ring, doesn't it?"  
"Why yes. Judging from the body, it looked a lot like Kudo-kun, but half the face was burned so we can't who it is exactly. One his left hand, there was a ring with a star on it. Looks like he just got married." Satou gasped. "Oh my god, oh my god. Oh SHIT SHIT SHIT!"  
"Whoa, Satou. You okay?" Takagi was surprised by Satou's sudden outburst.  
Satou brought her gaze to Ran's face. "It really is him, isn't it?"  
"Wait, what are you talking about...oh.." Takagi saw the ring on Ran's finger.  
Ran started to sob. "It's not fair. He came back yesterday and now today he's, he's.." Sobs drowned out Ran's last words.  
  
There was funeral for Kudo Shinichi a few days later. Ran had finally stopped crying but if you could tell that she could start any second. A few days after the funeral, Conan showed up at the agency.  
"Conan, where were you for the past week?"  
"I stayed at Hagase's house." He was more pale than he was the last time she had seen him.  
"You know don't you?"  
Conan nodded.  
"You want to come in?"  
He nodded again. Ran took Conan's hand and led him upstairs to her room. There, she shut the door and sat on the bed.  
"I'm sorry." They said at the same time.  
"He was your distant relative, Conan. You barely had a chance to meet him. I just wish he hadn't gone out that morning."  
"You loved him, Ran-neechan. You only saw him for a few hours." Conan looked out the window. I'm sorry, Ran. It was trick to make Kudo Shinichi disappear from this world forever. I had Mom and Dad help me pull it off. I'm really sorry. Conan looked at Ran. She was sad enough, but would his one last heart-breaking news do any more damage. He had no choice. "Ran- neechan, I have some bad news."  
Ran looked up, startled.  
"I'm leaving with my parents for America tonight."  
Ran gasped. "But you..you just came back."  
"I came back to get my things and to tell you." The ten year ago boy looked straight into her eyes. "I'm sorry." He looked away. "I better get my things." He turned to leave and then paused. He turned back with a look of sadness Ran could not describe. "Good-bye, Ran-neechan, and thank you." With that, he ran from the room and left Ran there, paralyzed and numb.  
Ran's tears began to flow again. It's painful for him too......But why? Why does he have to leave? He used to comfort me and he's been a sort of replacement for Shinichi the past 3 years. I thought maybe with him back at my side, maybe, maybe I could get over my past easier, but now, even he has to leave. Ran threw herself down on her bed and began to sob. She cried so hard she ran out of tears.  
  
~to be continued~ So, like I said, this is my first story and I really don't know how to write good stories yet. I hope someone will review and give me some feedback to improve. The formatting is kind of weird when it shows up on fanfiction.net, but it looks fine in the document. I'll try to fix it. Thanks and I'll try to update as quickly as possible. ^^  
  
*It's in the seventh movie, The Crossroad in the Ancient Capital. Conan turns back into Shinichi to help Heiji. 


	2. A New Life

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Detective Conan. All characters belong to Gosho Aoyama.  
  
Chapter 2: A New Life  
  
~the same night, at the airport~  
  
"Shinichi-kun, over here!" Yukiko waved from her table. She and her husband, Yusaku, had arrived an hour ago just to make sure everything was just as they planned. They even had a special guest with them.  
Conan, carrying just one small duffel bag, came over to the table. "Hey thanks, Mom." He smiled. "You too, Dad."  
Shinichi's parents just smiled.  
"You two shouldn't be so cheerful, you just lost your only son," he reminded them.  
"Oh yes, I forgot." Yukiko grinned and then put on a real sad face. "That better?"  
Conan raised an eyebrow and then said down at the table. He dropped the bag next to him and thought, Man, she almost looks real. Hehe, right. I forgot she WAS a very famous actress. "So, when's the plane, and what do I do?"  
Before either of his parents could begin, a female voice said, "That is what I'm here for, Kudo-kun."  
Conan turned to look and saw a young girl with long brown hair and sunglasses on. Her eyes were greenish blue and her hair was curled at the ends. She had a white blouse on with a light blue miniskirt. She was wearing boots and carrying a duffle bag just like Conan's, but many times bigger.  
"Nice to meet you, Edogawa Conan." She stuck out her hand as she moved the sunglasses to the top of her head.  
Conan shook her hand as he studied the girl. She looked familiar. That's when it hit him. "You're Takashiki-san, aren't you?" he asked as he shook her hand.  
The girl smiled. "You sure have a good memory, Kudo-kun." She sat down at the table and dropped her bag by her feet. "It's been like what, 5 years?"  
"Yeah, but more like, 4 years and 3 months." He grinned.  
Takashiki chuckled. "Fine, whatever, Mr. Detective."  
"So, you're going to help me get to America?"  
"Sure am."  
"So.what do I do?"  
"First of all, my name is Takashiki Masako. You're Edogawa Conan and supposed to be my cousin. I'll be going to back America, so you'll come with me. I have a house in California, which is where you'll be staying. The registration for schools and all that, your parents and I will deal with. You're job," she leaned in closer to him, "is to act like a kid. There's really not much to it."  
"Okay. Fine with me." He leaned back in his chair. "By the way, do you still play soccer? When I last saw you, you were still on the women's soccer team."  
Masako smiled. "I knew you would ask. Don't worry, I'm still practicing. I'll teach you some new tricks I learned after we reach my home and get settled in."  
Conan smiled. He looked at his watch. It was seven. "Are we going to eat dinner or what?"  
Everyone smiled. "Why not?"  
  
"Conan, over here!!!" a boy yelled waving his arms. Conan kicked the ball toward the kid. He got it and dribbled it to the front of the goalie box. He faked a pass and shot it into the goal. He scored.  
"YES!!!!!!!!" the team cried. Conan just smiled. The game ended, twelve to nothing. I guess Takashiki was right. Being a kid again isn't so bad, that is, after you've gotten really used to it. Conan sighed. Well, better be getting home.  
Conan was in tenth grade and almost sixteen. He was nearly the age he formally was when he was Kudo Shinichi. After all this years, he almost forgotten about his old identity, except when he solved cases and played soccer. They always reminded him of his past and of.Ran. He knew Ran thought he was dead, but he was alive. Conan pushed the thought away as he opened the front door to Masako's apartment. He stepped in, closed the door behind him and said, "I'm home."  
As usual, he was greeted by silence. He wasn't surprised. Masako was twenty six now, she had a job, and a boyfriend. She had her life to live, even if she did care for Conan a lot.  
Conan took off his shoes, walked to the living room, dropped his school stuff on the floor by the sofa, and sat down on the balcony. The apartment was near the beach and had a real nice view of it and the sunset. Conan stared at the sunset, remembering when he and Ran would watch the sunset together. Then he shook his head, got up and went back inside to finish his homework.  
  
Two hours later, Masako came home. "Hey ya, Conan. What's up?" Conan looked up. "Not much, just finishing some homework."  
"Are you serious? I thought you would finish it all in class. I mean, you've taken and learned all this stuff before," Masako grinned as she poured herself in a glass of water. "You want some?" She asked, offering him another cup.  
"It's okay."  
"Ok, then. I'll be in my office if you need me." Masako grabbed a piece of bread and walked into a small room down the hallway.  
Conan watched his friend and "supposed" cousin walk away. He just nodded and sighed. I really am getting used to being Conan. It feels weird, but I guess having a new life was better than being dead. Conan smiled. Ran, wonder what she's doing now...I could call her...no, I haven't spoken to her since I left, even as Conan. Conan shook his head. Forget it, maybe some other time. Conan went back studying the different fonts of the textbook.  
  
~in Tokyo~  
  
"Ran, I've been thinking." Sonoko looked over at her friend, who was sitting next to her in the coffee shop, trying to draw a picture of some person.  
"And when was the last time you did that?" Ran answered, teasingly.  
"Ran!"  
"Hey, I was just joking." Ran held up her hands. She was trying to finish a drawing of Shinichi. "So, what were you thinking?"  
"Well, I thought we should take a break from work and go on vacation. We haven't done that in a long time, ne? Don't you think that would be cool?"  
"But, Sonoko, I don't have time for that. I told you." Ran didn't look up from her drawing. "I have to work and take care of Dad, and-"  
"Come on, Ran. You've been working to hard." Sonoko whined. "Come with me." Sonoko put on a sympathetic look.  
After much persuading by Sonoko, Ran finally agreed to a two week vacation in California. The two teenage girls would leave in a week for California.  
  
~to be continued~ So, you can kind of tell where this is going, can you? Well, anyways, I've been real busy lately, so please bear with me. I hope you'll like it. ^^ 


	3. Reunion

Disclaimer: Detective Conan does not belong to me; all characters belong to Gosho Aoyama. I do wish the cute guys belonged to me, though...^^ No, wait. I forgot, Masako belongs to me because I created her. ^^  
  
Chapter 3: Reunion  
  
"Sonoko, are you sure you know your way around here?" Ran looked around the airport. It was completely in English. She could read most of it, but it would take a long time getting used to it.  
  
"Of course, here," Sonoko gestured to the taxi, "let's go. The hotel's name is Hilton. Let's tell the taxi driver and he'll take us there." Sonoko piled her three bags in the trunk and put in Ran's duffel bag. She slammed closed the trunk. The girls got into the car and told the driver where to go.  
  
"I'm still not sure about this." Ran looked out the window and could barely understand the signs. "I know English, but it's just really different."  
  
"You may need a guide, ladies. California is a good place for a vacation, but it's hard when you've never been here." The taxi driver smiled and nodded. He stopped the car in front of a big building. "Here you are, Hilton Hotel. Hope you have a nice stay."  
  
"Wow, he was real nice." Ran remarked as the girls walked into the lobby with their bags.  
  
"Everyone here is nice, I told you. By the way, how come there are no taxis around here. I haven't seen one since we arrived at the airport," Sonoko said. "Let's check in and drop off these bags. They're killin' me."  
  
Ran smiled. "You packed like your whole wardrobe. I'm not surprised." Ran giggled and walked over to the registration desk.  
  
It took a while for the girls to get checked in and find their room, but eventually they made it. As the girls settled into the room, Ran looked out the window. "Wow, that beach looks great. You want to go for a swim, Sonoko?" She asked as she turned back to face her friend.  
  
"Sure, we might even meet some cute guys!" Sonoko grinned. "Maybe even one for you!"  
  
"Sonoko, I'm twenty seven, not seventeen. I can find my own guys. Besides, I've already dated many guys. They just aren't right for me." Ran changed the subject. "Let's get those bathing suits on and go for a swim!"  
  
Ran and Sonoko reached the beach at about four in the afternoon. The sun was getting lower and the colors it reflected into the ocean were a wonderful sight. Ran stood in awe as she stared at the colors. She hadn't seen such a beautiful sight since she was last on a date with Shinichi. Ran saddened at the thought, but was knocked down as a soccer ball hit her in the head. As she stood up and shook the sand out of her hair, she found herself staring into Shinichi, a smaller version of Shinichi.  
  
"Shinichi? Is that you?"  
  
"Ran." The boy stared at her. A girl with long brown hair came running over to him.  
  
"Conan-kun, what are you doing? Weren't you-"she stopped when she caught sight of Ran. "Oh, Ran-san. Long time no see."  
  
Conan-kun? Who's Conan? Oh right, Conan used to live with us, that is, until he came back to America. I almost thought Shinichi was still alive. Ran thought. Ran turned to the girl. She looks familiar, I think I've seen her in Japan. "Oh, right. You're Takashiki-san, aren't you?" The girl smiled as they shook hands. "What brings you to California?"  
  
"Oh, well, vacation with Sonoko." Ran pointed behind but found that Sonoko had disappeared. She looked a big farther and found that she was talking to some American guys already. Ran sighed. She turned back to look at her two friends. "What are you two doing here?"  
  
"I live here. My house is about a block from here. I love the ocean so I bought a house here." Masako grinned. "It's wonderful." She messed up Conan's hair.  
  
Ran giggled. She knew that Conan used to hate it when people messed up his hair and could tell he still did when he glared at Masako. "By the way Conan, how come you're here with Takashiki-san?"  
  
Conan stopped glaring and smiled. "I live with her. She's my cousin."  
  
Ran blinked. "Your cousin? What about your parents? You're always living with a cousin. Where are your parents?"  
  
Conan's smile faded. He looked down at the sand. "They died in a car accident 6 years ago, while vacationing. Takashiki-san came to the funeral and talked this out with me. She was living alone, so I thought it would be okay."  
  
Ran smiled as she patted Conan on the shoulder. "Sorry to bring up those memories. Let's forget it and have a nice day at the beach!" She grinned as Conan stared at her with a surprised expression.  
  
"Okay, come over here," he said as he pulled Ran over to a big blanket spread out on the sand with an oversized umbrella over it. There was basket near the umbrella. "We have a picnic ready. Care for lunch, anyone?"  
  
Ran, Masako and Conan talked a lot about the years between that they haven't seen each other. Sonoko joined them later with a tall, tan American boy. Everyone chatted during lunch and went swimming in the ocean afterwards. The sun went down and the friends decided to go home. Masako invited them all to her house for a friendly reunion tomorrow.  
  
~that night at Masako's house~  
  
"Takashiki," Conan said.  
  
"Yeah?" Masako answered while drying her hair. She had just walked out of the bathroom after taking a shower.  
  
"I miss Ran."  
  
Masako froze. She knew what he was going to say. "Conan, Kudo is dead. There's nothing you can do to change that."  
  
"I know, but I can't help it. I want to embrace her as Shinichi, not as Conan." Conan turned his gaze from the table to Masako. "I love her, you know that. Looking at her reminds me of my past, the damn organization and how idiotic I was." He looked back down to the table.  
  
"Conan," Masako kneeled down next to where Conan sat on the floor. "I know you'll kill me for not saying this earlier, but to tell you the truth, the organization has been brought down."  
  
Conan snapped his head around to look at her. "WHAT?"  
  
"It's been ten years. Slowly, with all the information you and Ai had, which I gave the FBI, the police had destroyed the organization. Although it's saddening to tell you that there still isn't an antidote as that drug has vanished off the face of this earth so that no can use it again, I think it's safe to tell Ran everything. Whether she understands you and accepts you again or not, that's for fate to decide." Masako sighed. "You should tell her. It'll make the pain in your heart heal better." Masako tried to smile. "At least you have a chance."  
  
"Masako, thank you."  
  
"Ehh?"  
  
"I'm going to tell Ran tomorrow when she comes. As for Sonoko, I don't know. She blabbers too much." Conan glanced at Masako.  
  
Masako smirked. "I know, I'll do something to distract her. Besides, she too caught with Ron to worry."  
  
"Ron?"  
  
"The American dude."  
  
"You know him?"  
  
"Old school friend."  
  
"I see."  
  
Masako stood up and walked off to her room. Before entering, she turned and smiled at Conan. "I wish you luck."  
  
Conan smiled. "Thanks," he said as she closed the door, "and good night."  
  
~to be continued~ Sorry it took so long. I had projects to do and I went on vacation. Anyways, the next chapter may take a while as school's back in and we've going to Yosemite soon. So, thanks to those who reviewed and I hope you'll liked it so far. ^^ Keep reviewing!! 


	4. Confession

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in Detective Conan; they all belong to Gosho Aoyama. (except Ron and Masako, of course^^)**

Chapter 4: Confession

~the next morning~

"Hey, Conan! Can you do me a favor? Put those flowers on the table in the vase by the microwave," Masako called from behind a pile off towering gifts. "Thanks."

Conan smiled and did as he was told. As he reentered the living room, he found Masako trying to sort out another pile of gifts. "Whoa, what happened here?"

"I don't know, all these gifts were just delivered. I don't even know who they're to." Masako flipped open a card. "Wait, it says..." She paused as she read the card. "Happy birthday, son. Love, Mom and Dad." Masako looked up with a smile at Conan. "Hey, it's your birthday. I totally forgot with Ran and Sonoko coming."

Conan blinked. _Wait...today is May 4th...that's not my birthday...my birthday is January 1st...Oh, right. Kudo Shinichi's birthday is May 4th. _Conan smiled. _Thanks, Kaasan, Tousan._ "What are you going to do with all the presents?"

"Stick them in your room," Masako replied with a evil grin on her face.

"WHAT? You can't do that!!!! My room's already really small!!! If you even put HALF that pile in, I won't even get through the doorway!!!!"

Masako just grinned.

Conan frowned. "You're mean."

Masako's grin grew even wider.

Conan grew nervous. "I need to go now."

Masako shook a finger at him. "Yes, but you've got to get your girlfriends over here for the party."

"They are NOT my girlfriends!"

"Whatever, by the way, don't go looking for Ron as he'll probably already be with Sonoko."

"Humph." Conan faked a frown. As he closed the door behind him, it automatically turned into a smile. As Conan flew down the stairs and practically skipped to the hotel, Masako watched from the balcony. 

_He hasn't been this happy in ten years. This get-together really is turning out better than I thought. _Masako smiled as she headed back inside. She cleared up the pile of gifts, which obviously could only be from Kudo Yukiko and Yusaku, and stuffed them into the empty closet of the hallway. She cleaned up the house and set up everything for the party. She put a few movies on the table, along with a deck of cards, a pot of tea, and a homemade lemon pie, which she took out of the oven. 

~half an hour later~

Everyone was saying 'hi' or 'wonderful house' or 'it's real nice of you to invite us over' to Masako as Ron, holding Sonoko's hand, Ran and Conan came through the door. Masako gestured for the guests to sit on the sofa and pulled Conan over to the kitchen.

"You get Ran out on that balcony and tell her everything. You can't see anything from the living room, okay?"

"What about Sonoko and Ron?"

"There's movies and cards. I'll figure something out." Masako pushed Conan back out. "Go."

Conan gulped as he approached Ran. "Ehh, Ran-neechan?"

"Oh, hi Conan." Ran smiled sweetly. "You can forget the 'neechan' part. I don't look much like a neechan anymore." Ran looked Conan up and down. "Have you gotten taller than Shinichi or am I just getting shorter?"

Conan laughed, relaxing a bit when he realized how tense he had been. "I guess my growth spurt got me taller than niichan." Conan looked out the window. "By the way, I want to talk to you on the balcony. Can you come with me?"

"Sure, why not?"

Ran got up to follow Conan out when Sonoko looked up from her piece of pie and asked, "Where are you going, Ran?"

"Oh, I just wanted to see the sight of the beach from here. Conan-kun was just telling me how pretty it looks."

Conan cocked an eyebrow. _Wow, she's good. She's almost as good as Mom. _He smiled as Ran stepped after him onto the balcony and gasped at the sight. 

"Wow!! It really is pretty! I guess I didn't lie after all."

"Ran, take a seat," Conan said as he pointed to a chair with a good view of the beach.

Ran took a seat and then looked at Conan. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked with a smile.

"Ran, I have some news that may break your heart again." Conan sighed, and without looking at Ran, ran his hand through his hair. "How do I start?" Conan looked out to the ocean. "It's a long story, one sad one too. I need you to listen and don't ask any questions until I'm done, okay?"

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ran drop her smile and nod.

"It was that day that I left you at the amusement park............."

* * * *

Masako stole a glance at the two talking on balcony, actually one as Conan was doing the explaining now. _I hope you'll do alright, Kudo-kun. I wish you luck in whatever will happen next. _Masako thought as she sipped her tea and turned her gaze back to Ron and Sonoko who were trying to decide on a card game to play first. _This is going to be a long day._

~to be continued~

So, I know it's kind of short and crappy, but I really can't think of much right now and I apologize to those who were expecting something better. . Anyways, please review and I'll try to update ASAP. Thanks and I hope you enjoy.^^


	5. The Beginning

**Disclaimer: All characters from DC belong to Gosho Aoyama, except my original ones, Masako and Ron.**^^

Notes: the conversations with "..." around them are in real English, because they originally speak Japanese.

Chapter 5: The Beginning

"Masako, you can't play that card!" Sonoko frowned as Masako laid down an ace of spades.

"Ehh, how come?" Masako glanced down at the card. It hadn't changed. "We are playing Big Two."

"I know, but you're going to make me lose!!!!" Sonoko whined.

Masako sighed. "Come on, it's your turn, Ron."

Ron raised an eyebrow at Masako. "Okay." He laid down a two of hearts.

"Ron, that's so not fair!!! You guys both know that I don't have any twos!!!"

"Here, Sonoko," Masako said as she took the cards out of Sonoko's hands and stuffed them, along with the ones on the table, into the box. "Let's watch a movie, okay?"

"A movie? Cool! What do you have?"

"Some romance ones. They're over there on the shelf. Pick on while I go refill the teapot."

Sonoko squealed. "I love romance movies!"

Ron got up and went over to Sonoko to help pick out a movie to watch.

Masako stole a glance at Conan and Ran, but could tell that Conan was still telling his story. Masako felt bad when she saw that sad smile on his face. _It's hurting him...Hang in there, Kudo. I just know she'll understand._ Masako turned away and walked to the kitchen. As she was filing up the teapot, the phone rang. Masako ran to pick it up.

"Hello, Takashiki residence."

"Oh, it's Masako! How's everything going?" Yukiko said cheerfully.

"Yukiko-san! I wasn't expecting your call."

"I know, I'm waiting for my husband now, so I thought I'd call and see what's up."

"Oh, well, Kudo's sort of in the middle of telling his story to Ran-san."

"Ehh?????" The cheerfulness was now gone from her voice.

"Yukiko-san, he needs her. He's had to suffer for almost ten years now." There was a pause. "I told him about the fall of the organization."

"But Masako, you promised."

"I'm sorry, but I can't stand to see a friend be in so much pain."

"Masako, you know that there are still some agents out there. They may be individuals since the organization has fallen apart, but they're still dangerous and this is for Shinichi's good. Don't you underst-"

"Look, Yukiko-san. I understand why you are protecting Kudo, but he's had enough. I can understand your reasoning, but you're putting him in too much pain. How would you feel if you were in his shoes?"

Yukiko sighed. "I know that Shin-chan is hurting, but it's all for his good. I don't want him to die. He's already had enough with the organization and now that he's living here with you, he's sort of gotten a burden off his back."

"You're wrong. His burden has just gotten heavier."

"Masako, what are you talking about?"

"Listen, Yukiko-san. I've been living with Kudo-kun for almost ten years now. I know what he's like when he's relaxed and I know what he's like when he's not. He's not. The burden of lying to Ran is getting heavier each day, especially since she and Sonoko are here on vacation. How do you expect Kudo to keep lying? He came here to start over, to forget, but that didn't happen and we can't change that. Think about the pain Ran-san and Kudo had to suffer over the years." Masako took a deep breath. "I'm sorry if I've upset you, Yukiko-san, but I know what I've let Kudo do so trust me. Please."

Yukiko sighed. "Alright Masako. I really can't do anything even if I wanted to, can I?"

"Guess not."

"Being a thousand miles away is sort of far."

"Yeah."

"So, I'll talk to you later."

"Thanks."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Masako sighed. _This situation is just annoying. Those damn agents. Why do they have to go around ruining people's lives? _Masako picked up the now filled teapot and left the kitchen. _Who am I to complain? My life isn't that_ _bad_... When she arrived at the living room, she found Sonoko sitting next to Ron on the couch deeply engrossed in the movie "Titanic". Masako shook her head as she set the teapot down on the coffee table. The two lovebirds didn't even look up. Masako left the room quietly and headed for the balcony.

As Masako put her hand on the glass door to slide it open, she saw that Ran was crying. She was also smiling. All of a sudden, she pitched forward and hugged Conan. Masako smiled. _They worked it out. _She took a step backwards, turned and left the room to join Sonoko and Ron in the living room.

~outside on the balcony~

Ran was crying. _I must have gotten her upset. _Conan looked down. _I'm sorry, I just wanted to let you know the truth. _He looked up at Ran again was surprised to see Ran smiling. Suddenly, she pitched forward and hugged him. 

"Ran........."

"I love you, Shinichi."

Conan's eyes shot up. _It's so nice to hear her call me by my real name. I haven't heard that name in ten years._ "Ran......"

As Ran let the small Shinichi go, she said, "Thank you, Shinichi, for telling me the truth."

"You deserved to know. I'm really sorry to keep it hidden for so long. You know that it was for you safety, right?"

"Yes and I'm glad you're still alive. I had almost completely given you up and was going to start dating another guy."

"You should have. It's not like I can help you in this form. Besides, I don't deserve your trust. I lied to you so many times." Conan's face showed pain as he remembered how he had lied one lie on top of another to keep her from finding out his identity.

"But Shinichi," Ran said taking Conan's face and turning it so he looked right at her, "You are taking the blame for something you had no choice in."

"I DID have a choice. I could have told you! I'm really sorry. I made you cry so many times. Every time I saw you crying, I knew that I had caused those tears and that I was the one who could have stopped them."

"Shinichi." Ran's tone was firm. "I'm forgiving you now because after all, you are the one I love the most, and I can't be mad at the person I love most, can I?"

Conan was surprised at how Ran had taken in the information so easily. He blinked and stared. "I would have thought that you'd have forgotten me by now."

"Hey, don't stare at me with that clueless expression, Shinichi!" Ran giggled as she got up and pulled Conan over to the railing of the balcony. "I love you too much Shinichi, to ever forget you."

Conan smiled as true smile in ten years. "I love you too, Ran."

Ran giggled again. "You're so cute, like this!" She patted his head.

Conan snorted.

"Conan! That's very childish."

Conan smirked. 

"Wipe that grin off your face, you're going me the creeps."

Conan laughed. "Let's go inside now."

Ran nodded.__

~back inside~

Ran and Conan noiselessly joined Ron and Sonoko in the living room. Masako was no where to be seen. Conan looked at Ran and mouthed the words, "I need to go find Takashiki."

Ran nodded and then looked back at the screen of the TV. Conan slipped from the room and started for the kitchen. As he neared the kitchen, he heard Masako's voice.

"I understand, but is it possible that you.......?" He couldn't hear the rest. Conan leaned against the door and listened. _She's speaking English. It must be some important business._

"But, I really need to talk to him NOW!" Masako's voice was very urgent.

There was pause as she listened to the reply.

"Fine. Fine, but have him call me back ASAP."

She paused again. 

"Okay, okay, fine. I'll do that. Make sure you get the info. Thanks, bye."

Conan drew back from the door and knocked.

Masako's head whipped toward the door as he came in. He crossed his arms.

"So what exactly is so urgent?"

"Nothing," she said as she placed the phone back into its cradle.

"You can't lie to me, Takashiki. I've known you too long now."

"Aren't you supposed to be with Ran? What are you doing here?"

"I have finished telling her my story, she accepts me and is currently watching 'Titanic' with Ron and Sonoko."

Masako sighed. "I'm trying to contact the FBI to see if they have caught the few remaining members. I don't know why, but I can't seem to get in contact with them."

"Why is this so important now?"

"Because your mother called and she's all worried about you getting hurt, and I can't just let her worry."

"My mom again?"

Masako nodded.

"Here, let me use your phone."

"Okay, should I stay?"

"Doesn't matter." Conan picked up the phone and started to dial a number.

"Hello? Yes, it's me." He paused. "No, everything is fine. I just wanted to-" He was cut off. He growled. "Listen to me you butthead, I need to talk to your dad NOW, so get him on the phone!" 

Masako blinked. 

"Hello, yes. No, yes, no no, it's fine. I just need-" Conan's eyebrows shot up. "No, really? Are you serious?" He nodded. "Okay, okay. Hang on a sec."

He handed the phone to Masako. "Here, it's Heiji's dad."

"Oh."

"Hello?" Masako watched as Conan left the room. He mouthed the words, "I'm going back to Ran."

"Takashiki?"

"Yes, sir?" She nodded at Conan. He left.

"You tried to contact the FBI, am I correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"You wanted to know about the remaining uncaught members of the organization, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"I know that a year after you and Kudo left, we caught about 20 more."

"Yes, I know that."

"And then about 5 years ago, we found another secret hiding place and traced a whole bunch more."

"With their real names, right?"

"Yes and then 2 years ago, 5 of the last 10 or so were also caught."

"I know everything up to that. Has there been any more improvements?"

"Yes there has. We caught that Gin and Vodka that you were talking about."

"That's good. They scare the creeps out of me."

Heizo chuckled. "You are definitely right about that."

"Anything more?"

"Well, the leader hasn't been tracked down yet. We know his code name is Bourbon, but nothing else. He was last seen in the Tokyo airport, so we think that he may have escaped to another country."

"We do you think he is?"

"......."

"Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just that we think he's in America."

"Oh."

"I know it's sort of shocking to you, but there is also some good news," Heizo said as he ruffled through some papers.

"What's that?"

"Just this weekend, we found Vermouth, the other big leader."

"That's wonderful. Where was she hiding?"

"She was being the so called "Dr. Araide."

"Oh dear."

"Yes and do you know that Jodie Saintemillion lady?"

"Yes, she was Ran's English teacher. Did you find anything on her? I always found her actions quite suspicious."

"She's part of the FBI, along with that Shuichi guy that Kudo suspected."

"I see, that would explain things."

"I'm told Kudo that we've caught most of the members but I didn't tell him that Bourbon was the only one still lose and that he's very dangerous. I heard that Mouri Ran is over there now and she knows everything now. Is that true?"

"Sort of. She is here, but like Kudo, she doesn't know everything about the organization yet and I don't intend to tell them until Bourbon is caught."

"I understand. I'll be sending some officers to America and get in touch with the FBI there. You may want to keep an eye out for anything suspicious."

"I will and thanks for all your help in this."

"You're welcome. Bye."

"Bye."

Masako hung up the phone with a tingle of fear in here eyes. Then, she narrowed her eyes. _I think I know this Bourbon._ Then she shook her head, put on a fake smile and skipped out of the kitchen.

Outside, a man light a cigarette and glanced at the apartment. _It's not over yet, Kudo. It's beginning._ The green eyes flashed dangerous before disappearing into the shadows.

~back in Tokyo~

"Ai, are you ready for school?" Hagase called. "It's getting late."

"I'm not going to school today," the seventeen year old girl said.

"What?"

"I have very important matters to attend to."

"Like......"

"Like the antidote for APTX4869."

"But I thought that it was gone and that there's no way to make an antidote without the complete ingredients of the drug."

"I thought that too and I'm very glad that APTX4869 is gone forever. That kind of drug should never have been created."

"Ai......"

"Yes and I did think I could not create an antidote, but I'm very close to succeeding now as I've spent a lot of these ten years on experiments for it."

"I see, I'll make a call to the school and tell them you're not feeling well."

"Thank you."

"No problem, Ai."

Ai smiled. _Thank you, Hagase. I've never felt more family from my sister than from you. I really feel comfortable in your house. I feel like I'm home, which I guess, now is home. _As Ai walked down to her basement lab, she frowned a bit. _Kudo-kun, I heard that the leader is in __America__. You better be careful since Mouri-san is near you now._ She shut the door behind and her and turned on her computer. _Just hold on a bit more, I'll get you the antidote._

~to be continued~

_Well, I expected this to be the last chapter but then new ideas came up that told me to make some action. Well, I did. I hope you've all liked it so far and I'll try to update ASAP. Thank you to those who reviewed. I appreciate them. So, see you all in the next chapter! ^^_

_~mysteriousangelgirl~_


	6. Surprise

**Disclaimer: All characters from DC do not belong to me; they belong to their respective owners. I only own Masako and Ron, well, and Bourbon too.**

Chapter 6: Surprise

RIIIINNNNGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The telephone rang again.

Conan turned over in his bed and growled as he checked the clock. _Who EXACTLY is calling at four in the morning???? _He reluctantly got out of bed. No one else would pick up the phone anyway. _Ran and Sonoko went back to their hotel last night. Ron also went home. Masako's IS NOT going to get the phone. She sleeps like a rock. I'll bet that if I started to bang the pots and pans, she wouldn't even notice. _Conan stiffed a yawn as he picked up the receiver in the living room. 

"Halloo?" he said sleepily.

"Hey Kudo!!!"

"Hattori?"

"Yup. Haven't talked to you in while! How are things going? Are you having fun with neesan over there? Is-"

"Hattori!!!!!!!!!!!!" Conan almost screamed. "You don't call me at four in the morning just to _chat_, do you???????????"

He heard Hattori gulp. "Sorry, I forgot about the time difference. So.....ehh, should I, ehh.....go now....?"

Conan glared at the phone even though he knew that Heiji wouldn't get that. "Yes, and if you REALLY need to call, call after noon, as you've disturbed my sleep and that's when I'll be getting up!"¨

"Okay, later, Kudo!"¨ Hattori regained his cheerfulness as he hung up.

Conan sighed. "Time for bed."¨ He trudged back to his room and collapsed on the bed. He was asleep in less than 30 seconds.

Outside, a man with green eyes watched the small figure climb back into bed. He frowned as he lit a cigarette. After shaking his head, he disappeared into the darkness again.

Ran yawned as she sat up in the hotel bed. Sonoko was still snoring beside her. She stole a glance at the clock on the bedside table beside her. 8:30. _Not bad after only three days to get over the time difference. _Ran dragged herself out of bed and got ready for a shower. She went into the bathroom and took a nice, long, soothing shower. As she came out to change into comfortable clothes, Sonoko asked, "Why are you up so early?"

"Early to bed, early to rise," she answered cheerfully.

Sonoko grumbled. 

"Come on, didn't you have a day planned out with Ron?" Ran teased as she brushed her long, black, silky hair into a ponytail. It was down to her thighs now. 

Sonoko sighed as she reluctantly got out of her cozy bed. "I'm taking a shower."

Ran smiled. She opened her duffel bag. _What should I wear? Hm.....sweats? No, too casual...a blouse? _She finally settled for a white blouse with a long navy blue skirt. Then she pulled on some sandals. _That's good...since knowing Shinichi; we should be going to the beach._ she thought as she looked herself over in the mirror. She stuck her bathing suit into her duffel bag-ish purse. It was quite huge, almost big enough to be a duffel bag. 

Sonoko finally came out of the bathroom. She was wearing a short pink miniskirt with a white and black tank top. She threw her towel on the sitting chair and slipped on a pair of flip flops. She checked the clock. 9:15. "Ready to go, Ran?"

"Not yet, give me a sec," she answered as she put her watch on and stuck her wallet and cell phone into her purse. She swung the purse over her shoulder and flipped her hair back. "Now I am. Let's go." 

Sonoko smiled. "Beautiful, as usual."

She opened the door to their hotel room and held it open for Ran. As Ran stood in the doorway, she made sure she had the room key and then closed the door. "Where are you meeting Ron?"

"In the lobby. What about you? Where are you meeting that chibi?"

"Conan-kun," Ran corrected. "Also in the lobby"

"Okay, cool. Let's go!" Sonoko and Ran got on the elevator on the tenth floor. As the door closed, Ran said, "Sonoko, how come you're not so excited today?"

"I miss Makoto." Ninth floor.

"Oh, well, he is your boyfriend." Eighth floor.

"Yeah, I know." Seventh floor.

"You should tell Ron that." Sixth floor.

"But he's too nice and it..."¨ Fifth Floor.

"It what?" Fourth floor. 

"It feels good having someone like me." Third floor.

"But Makoto likes you!" Second floor. 

"No, having two guys like you at the same time. You sort of feel superior." She gave Ran a lopsided grin. First floor. 

Ran sighed. "Fine, whatever. I won't worry about you yet, she said as the doors opened and they stepped out onto the carpeted floor of the lobby.

Sonoko spotted Ron easily and ran over to him. Ran saw the small form of Conan by the glass door entrance and made her way to him. The girls waved their good-byes and headed off in opposite directions.

When Ran and Conan got to beach, Conan said, "Did you bring your swimsuit? I thought it would be nice to go swimming. I mean, the weather's good too. Besides, it's not a holiday so there aren't much people. We can have it all to ourselves!"

Ran grinned. _That's Shinichi. _"Of course I came prepared, Shinichi." She pulled a swim suit out of her purse. The purse was big, almost as big as a backpack. __

Conan's eyebrows went up. "Okay." He grinned. "You know me too well already." He pointed to the bathrooms. "Go change while I set up the umbrella and stuff."

Ran nodded and walked off in the direction of the bathrooms. Conan opened up the umbrella and set it at an angle with the sandy ground. Then he unfolded the beach towel and set it under the umbrella. He took the basket and put it on the towel and then sat on the towel, in the shade of the umbrella and waited. While Ran was running back in just a swim suit, Conan took off his shirt and tossed it to a side. He grinned as she ducked under the umbrella.

"What's so funny?"

"You really don't look like a 26 year old lady."

"Shinichi, don't even start."

Conan's grin grew even wider. "Alright, let's go for a swim." He got to his feet and helped Ran to hers. He was about as tall as she was even if he was ten years younger. (Not on the inside, but on the outside.)^^

Conan and Ran had the best time of their lives. They haven't been on a 'date' since ten years ago when Kudo Shinichi supposedly 'died'. As the teen and the adult were chasing each other and having fun, a man with green eyes looked at them from behind his dark sunglasses. _It's not over Kudo, at least, not yet. _Another person stood next to him. That person had on dark sunglasses too. The person looked at the man, nodded, and then walked away. The man frowned and then walked away into the shadows and disappeared from sight. 

~later, the group of friends met again at Masako's house~

"Hi guys, come in," Masako opened the door to let the teenager and adults pass through. "I was just going to shower. Make yourselves at home," she said as she walked into the bathroom. Minutes later, they heard the water running and settled themselves in the living room.

Ran and Conan settled themselves to a game of Sorry while Ron and Sonoko played a game of Trouble. 

"So, Shin-, I mean, Conan, how did you meet Masako?"

"Oh, I met her when I was a freshman. She was 2 years ahead of me, well, us, and had been the head of the soccer team. When I joined, that's when I met her." Conan moved his pawn forward on the board. "Darn, so close," he said as he picked up the card and laid it face-up in the other pile.

"I see, but how come you came to America with her?" Ran drew the card and got a 'move from start' card. "Alright!"

"Not fair," Conan said as he drew a card. It was a one, but could also be played as a 'move from start'. "I guess that's alright too." He moved his pawn. "Well, my parents had sorted that out. They had known Takashiki from our soccer games and she was leaving for America anyway. She's also real smart so I guess my parents trusted her."

"No wonder she's so fluent in Japanese. If I didn't know her, I would have mistaken her for American." Ran moved her pawn. "Your turn."

"I know, but she's half American and half Japanese. That's why." Conan moved his pawn back to home. "Wow, that was a lucky card."

Ran smiled. "Oh, you sure know a lot about her, don't you?"

"Well, ten years in this body does make a difference."

"Really, like what?" Ran moved her pawn safely back to home too. 

"Well, first of all, I've gotten used to being 'just a kid' and I've taken up karate and judo again. I'm also taking soccer, but Takashiki's a whiz with all the skills and tricks so I just have to ask her." Conan moved his pawn ahead 12 steps. 

"I see. Anything else?"

"Well, school has never been so easy."

"Right, but what about the classes you're taking now? How do you handle those? You are back to where you left off." Ran moved her pawn ahead 5 steps.

"I've already graduated from high school because the teachers thought I was too smart so they got me to skip."

"You'd make the world records of skipping grades."

"I know, especially since Takashiki lets me look at her books so I'm already in the last year of college. She told me that if I skipped too many grades, it'll get suspicious, so I only skipped four. I'm also on the soccer team of the college." Conan looked up at Ran and smiled. "I win."

"What?" Ran looked down at the board and sure enough, all four of Conan's pawns were in the 'home'. Ran only had three in the 'home'. She smiled. "Okay, you want to play something else?"

Before Conan could answer, a male voice laughed. It was an evil laugh.

Ran gasped as she looked up and saw the man holding the gun out at them. She saw Sonoko farther behind him. She was asleep, probably because of chloroform. Conan narrowed his eyes. "So, you should be Bourbon." He said as he glared at the man holding the gun and moved his body so he was shielding Ran. 

The man laughed again. "So you _do_ know me. I'm the last leader of the Black Organization to be running around free."

"Then why have you exposed yourself?"

"I've only come to kill you, Kudo Shinichi,"

Ran gasped again. 

Conan smirked. "Kudo Shinichi, I haven't heard that name in ten years."

"I know because you're going to die as Edogawa Conan, Kudo."

Conan didn't say anything.

"Too bad your friend, Haibara Ai, was so close to finding an antidote, even after all these years."

"She what?"

"I took a little visit to your professor's house when I was still in Tokyo and I overheard saying that she was real close to antidote for you." The man laughed again. "Too bad you'll never be able to return to your true form."

"That's not true," a voice rang out.

The three whipped their heads to the owner of the voice. It was Masako.

"You seemed to have forgotten I was here."

The man shifted the gun so it was now pointed at her. "What do you mean by what you said?"

"I mean exactly what I said." Masako held up her cell phone. "I suspected it would be you all along, Bourbon. I've already called the local police, the FBI, the headquarters in Osaka, and Ai." Masako looked at Conan and Ran as she crossed her arms. "Everyone's on their way here."

The man growled as he fired a shot. Conan and Ran jumped about twice their height. It wasn't because they've never seen a gun before, but because they had never been the ones in which the gun was pointed at. Conan hadn't been near a gun since he was in Japan because Masako was always worried about his safety. Masako didn't even flinch as the bullet dug a hole in the wall just besides her left arm.

"Practice aiming,"

Conan finally spoke up. "Wait, Takashiki, do you KNOW Bourbon?"

Masako smiled. "You don't?" She smirked at the fuming man in front of them. "I still have a question for you, Kudo." She glanced at Conan. "How did you know Bourbon's name? I never said anything about him." She gestured toward Bourbon.

Conan frowned. "I knew you would keep in contact with the FBI, I'm not stupid, but I also knew that you were lying to me to protect me. I don't blame you for that, but this is MY problem so I deserve to know. I bugged your phone when I called Hattori so I could know what you were talking about with his father."

Masako nodded. "I figured you wouldn't give up so easily when you asked me about the situation."

Bourbon cut in. "Enough of the chit chat, I'm armed, you know. Besides, it's about a 15 hour flight from Japan; even taking the fastest airplane wouldn't get them here before tomorrow morning. So until then, I have time to get rid of you all." He grinned. "But I don't want to spoil the fun to early either." He pointed to Ran with his free hand. "I want you get over here."

Ran's eyes grew large. _I don't want to die, Shinichi. Help me._ Ran looked at Conan. He narrowed his eyes and stuck an arm in front of her. 

"She's not going anywhere, Bourbon."

Bourbon frowned. "You really want to die, don't you?"

"Go ahead and shoot, Bourbon," Masako cut in.

Once again, the three turned in surprise at the Japanese-American girl. She had a gun out too and it was pointed at Bourbon.

Bourbon laughed. "Go ahead and shoot me." He positioned himself in front of Conan, but still at least twenty feet across the room, next to Sonoko. "Either way, you'll hit this girl or the detective, since the bullet doesn't have enough time to stop before going through my body."

Masako grinned. "Who said I was going to shoot you?"

"What?"

Masako shifted her position. She fired the gun at the window. Glass from the window came down. Bourbon was surprised. He looked behind him, at the shattered glass, in surprise. Taking this chance, Masako dropped her gun, ran up and threw Bourbon over her shoulder, knocking him out with the judo throw. She held his arms as she shouted to Conan.

"Get some rope!"

Conan nodded as he sprinted from the room. Ran was completely dazed. As she saw that Bourbon was waking up, she screamed. Masako's eyes grew wide as the man easily overpowered her grip and punched her in the stomach. Masako stumbled back, swaying a little, before falling down on her back, and lost consciousness. Ran kept screaming as the man came near her. She was numb with fear that she couldn't move. Just before he was able grab her, Conan came back and kicked the man's hand. He landed on his feet in between Ran and the man. 

"I HATE YOU!" he shouted, tears stinging his eyes. "I HATE YOU ALL, THIS STUPID DAMN ORGANIZATION THAT RUINED MY LIFE!"

He lowered his volume as Ran looked at him. _Shinichi, oh, Shinichi..... _

"You don't know how alone I've been, lying and hurting everyone that cares for me!" Conan looked up at the expressionless man.

"We are meant to kill, Kudo." He put emphasis on the word 'kill'. 

"I don't understand why you have to kill! Killing won't get you anything! Don't you care about the people you hurt, those you sacrifice for yourself?" He gestured to Sonoko and Masako behind him. 

"Why would I?" Bourbon had a feeling that this was going to led to his defeat.

"Because, you once had a family, you once loved a woman! How would they feel if they saw you now, killing hundreds, or millions of people just so you can obtain APTX4869 and live forever? If you become immortal, there still is a price to pay!" Conan shook from anger. _I HATE murderers._

"What kind of price?" Bourbon narrowed his eyes. _How does he know that I've only come for the apotoxin? _

"It's something you won't understand unless you've experience it." Conan shook his head sadly. Then he regained his anger. He stood, waiting for Bourbon to make a move. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a streak of black pass the doorway. He frowned. _What was that? Is it another member of the Black Organization, but there shouldn't be any. _He gasped as he saw another man enter the room. He picked up the gun that Masako had dropped and stood up straight again. It was.....no way, what was he doing here? But it was. It was him. It was Akai Shuichi. 

~to be continued~

_Heeehhe, I just have to leave it off at this moment, don't I? ^^ Okay, sorry for the delay and I'll try to get the next chapter up ASAP. Thanks for the reviews, but keep them coming! Thanks again and I would like to see more reviews. It'll take a while for me to post the next chapter if no one reviews. ^^ I'll see you all in the next chapter!_

_~mysteriousangelgirl~_


	7. FBI?

**Disclaimer: All characters of Detective Conan belong to their respective owners; all except Masako, Ron, and Bourbon. They're mine! ^^**

Chapter 7: FBI?

It _was_ him. It was Akai Shuichi. Conan couldn't move. He had no where to move to. Bourbon was pointing a gun at him twenty feet in front of him. Shuichi was pointing a gun at him just inside the doorway, which was about twenty feet to his right. Conan looked from Bourbon to Shuichi. Both men were expressionless. It was Ran who spoke first. She was as pale as a ghost, but she managed to croak out four words.

"What...is going on?" she said.

Conan opened his mouth to respond, but Shuichi beat him too it.

"All will be well, Mouri-san."

Bourbon smirked. "Are you on my side or their side?" He shifted his gun so it pointed at Shuichi.

Shuichi frowned. "It wouldn't matter."

Bourbon looked confused. "What?"

Shuichi didn't reply. He just shifted his gun so it pointed at Bourbon. Both men stood facing each other, guns pointing at the other's head and frowning. Suddenly, a shot rang out and Bourbon pitched forward. Masako, after waking up for about a minute, grabbed the man's arms, pinned them behind his back, and turned to look at Shuichi. 

Shuichi, expressionless once again, walked to the struggling man under Masako, and snapped a pair of handcuffs on his wrists. He grabbed the man by the shoulder and pulled him to his feet. 

Bourbon glared. "I will get back at you," he growled as he limped, struggling to keep up with the FBI agent's pace.

"After you get over that wound _and_ your prison sentence, though I highly doubt you'll be let out anytime soon." Akai led the man out of the room. Just before leaving, he said, "I'm taking him to the headquarters. Kudo, you better get this place cleaned up before the group arrives. I'll get an officer over here soon."

Conan just blinked. _I always though Shuichi wasn't on my side. How come he...? _Conan gasped as he remembered the conversation between Masako and Hattori Heizo. Heizo had said that Shuichi, along with Jodie Saintemillion, were FBI agents.

As Conan was thinking, another person walked into the room. Conan looked up and found Jodie Saintemillion staring down at him with a smile on her face.

"I see Mr. Detective is doing some thinking again." She winked.

"Jodie-sensei!" Ran said as she recognized the American lady in front of them.

Jodie just smiled. She walked over to the sofa, sat down and crossed her legs. 

"What are you doing here?" Conan asked suspiciously.

"Protecting you guys."

Conan narrowed his eyes but did say anything.

Ran shook Conan's shoulder lightly. "Ne, Shinichi, how come that other guy knows about you and why did sensei say 'protecting you guys'?"

"They're FBI agents that were sent to protect us." _I think._

"Oh." Ran got up from the position she was kneeling in. "That happened so fast I didn't have time to react. She looked at Conan, actually, Shinichi's blue eyes. "Thank you, for protecting me." She smiling and kissed him on the cheek.

Conan blushed. "It's okay."

Masako smiled, not surprised by Jodie's intrusion, as she shook Sonoko's shoulder lightly. "Hey wake up."

"What.....?"

"You fell asleep."

"I did what?" Sonoko glanced around the room. Her eyes grew wide when she saw the broken glass door and the glass all over the floor. Masako had a trail of blood by her mouth and Sonoko reached up to wipe it away.

"What happened? Are you okay? Why did I fall asleep and-"

"You don't want to know," Masako said as she held up a hand to stop Sonoko from touching her and got out a handkerchief. _Wow, she's matured, well sort of. It has been 10 years. _She dabbed at her mouth and then turned to Conan and Ran. "Are you guys okay?"

Receiving a slight nod from Conan and a slight smile from Ran was enough to tell her that the answer was 'yes'. Masako was just about to leave for the dustpan and broom to clean up the glass when Sonoko asked, "Where's Ron?"

Ran, Conan, and Masako all gasped as the all shifted their gaze to look at Sonoko.

"What? Why are you guys all looking at me like that?" Sonoko started getting nervous. 

"Oh, sh*t." Conan said a few more inappropriate words under his breath

"Oh, dear." Ran dug her nails in Conan's shirt.

Masako made some inappropriate noises and then groaned. "How could we have been that stupid??" she said to no one in particular.

"I don't understand how I had missed that." Conan sighed.

Ran frowned. "No wonder he looked so familiar."

"What??? Wait, you guys are talking about something that I obviously have no idea about. Tell me what's going on!" Sonoko got up from her spot against the wall and walked over to the scattered glass. "And I want you guys to explain this."

The threesome sighed. Jodie just yawned. "We'll explain later, when everyone gets here," they said in unison.

Masako shook her head as she left for the dustpan and broom. Ran flopped down onto the sofa and sighed. Conan sat down next to her and frowned.

They would ask any questions, explain anything, or figure out what was happening later. Right now, they just needed a break. Conan sighed and leaned back on the sofa. He fell asleep quickly after that. Ran was getting tired too, so she too, fell asleep next to Conan. Sonoko just stood there, confused. She finally decided to go into Masako's study and surf the net or something. As Masako came back into the room with the dustpan and broom, Sonoko quietly asked for permission and left the room. Masako smiled at the sleeping couple and quietly cleaned up the broken glass. Afternoon slowly faded to night, which slowly became morning.

Morning was question time.

~to be continued~

_Okay, so this chapter is short, but I wanted to make the group get-together big and well, more interesting, so I'm leaving you off here. I hope you liked my story so far and please please please review!!!! Thanks!!!! Please email for any grammar, spelling etc. mistakes you want me to fix. You can also state your thoughts, but please don't criticize too hard; this is only my third story. Thanks and I'll see you all in the next chapter!!_

_~mysteriousangelgirl~_


	8. Interrogation

**Disclaimer: Characters from DC belong to their respective owners. I only own Ron, Masako, and Bourbon. Maybe a few more officers too. ^^**

Note: Conversations in .... mean that it is in English, as the characters normally speak Japanese.

Chapter 8: Interrogation

Morning was question time. It was morning. 

Conan woke up stiffly from the sofa. _I never knew sleeping on the sofa gave you such big aches in the back. _He groaned as he stretched. _Next time, I'll stick to the bed. _He walked around the room a few times to get the blood moving. He glanced at the broken window. Masako had done a good job of cleaning it up. There wasn't even a speck of glass on the floor. He saw that she must have put a piece of cardboard in front of the broken window since there was a brown thing where the glass used to be. He looked around and saw that Ran had snuggled up next to him and that Sonoko had fallen asleep on the floor by the coffee table. Masako wasn't in the room, probably went back to her room. _Smart girl...... _There was a person missing, though. _Jodie Saintemillion. Now where did that lady go? Ahh, forget her. She's always disappearing anyways. _He checked his watch. 7:00. _Not bad, but considering that I went to sleep at like 6 last night, it wouldn't make a difference. _He sighed. _But, jeez, I'm real hungry. Very weird how missing one meal makes your stomach go crazy._ He wandered to the kitchen and looked for something to eat. He finally settled on toast and was waiting for it to pop out of the toaster when he heard the kitchen door open. He was sitting on the stool by the sink, where the toaster was plugged in, so his back was to the door. Having his sense still on alert, Conan whipped around to look at the person in the doorway. It was Jodie.

Jodie looked surprised as she raised both hands. "Oh, dear. I didn't mean to scare you, Cool Guy. I was just checking to make sure you were alright."

"Why would you do that?"

"Hey, well, it's my job. Besides, you're very important to our investigation of the Black Organization. We wouldn't want to lose such a precious source of information." Jodie leaned on the counter beside him. 

"So I'm only a source of information?" Conan glared at the smile on Jodie's face.

"Oh, no. Well, maybe to us you are, but I know that to Mouri-san, you're much more, right, Cool Guy?" She smirked. Then her expression became serious. "I am known to kid around a lot, but this time, I assure, I'm serious. Until Bourbon is firmly secured behind bars, you're not safe."

"Did Shuichi already take him away yesterday?"

"Yes, but there's still the trial which may not be for another two weeks, and..."

"Wait, shouldn't you be watching over Ran and them? I mean, I can take of myself," Conan saw the disapproving look Jodie's face, "at least better than they can," he finished.

"Well, you are known to do stupid things in situations, so I don't know about that, but when you were asleep, I called in another officer. He's watching them now." Jodie flipped back her long blonde hair. It was hard to believe that ten years ago, she had such short hair. 

Conan blinked as the toaster went 'diinnnggg' and his toast popped out. He grabbed a plate from the cabinet above him, and put the toast on it. "Let's go back there, okay?"

Jodie nodded. "By the way, the questioning is today afternoon."

"I know."

"And your gang is arriving in about an hour or so."

"I know."

"Fine." 

There was a pause. "You do know that Bourbon was Ron?"

Jodie nodded. "We were wondering why we had reports that he had died during the winter in a car crash, and yet he was still alive. The FBI suspected that since Bourbon had escaped from Japan, he was likely to go to America, as he is an American. The headquarters thought he was disguising as Ron so Shuichi and I were sent here to watch you guys. At first we thought he would strike right away, if he was Bourbon, but for some reason, he decided to wait ten years. We got the right man, but I don't understand why he waited. You'll have your chance to ask him today at the interrogation."

"Maybe he wanted to kill me when I was more 'Shinichi' like. I mean, ten years after Conan would mean that I'm Shinichi again, except back to where I started ten years ago." He sighed. "Does that make any sense?"

"Perfect."

"Okay."

"On more thing, how exactly did you guys catch Bourbon? He's not that stupid."

"I don't know. Masako sort of scared him a bit when she said she had called the police, but then he knocked her out. Then.. Shuichi showed up and he shot Bourbon's leg or something. I'm not sure, it happened too fast." Conan shrugged. "Why?"

"Nah, just that it's sort of odd that he was caught so easily. But then you said about Shuichi shooting his leg, and I got it."

"What's up with his leg?"

"That's his weakness. He's got a bad left leg. That's why he can never to do the killing himself, just the planning of the organization, because he can't fight. His leg has this disorder or something. I didn't read the whole file; you can check it out later."

"Then how come he was able to knock out Takashiki?" Conan asked as he took a bite out of his toast.

Jodie shrugged. "Lucky hit?"

Conan looked at the American FBI agent with half-moon eyes and snorted.

"Well, he does have strong arms, just not legs."

"Whatever, let's go back now."

"Okay, about time to talk to your girlfriend, ne, Cool Guy?"

Conan glared, but nodded.

They went back to the living room in silence.

~7:10am, at the airport~

"Come on, everyone, hurry up. We have to get to the interrogation in time." Heiji was pushing everyone to hurry and get in line for customs. _Why do people make us go through this process when Dad could just whip out an inspector's badge? _Heiji shook his head. _I don't think that would work either, but still, why such a long process?_

Finally, after about an hour, everyone was through customs and had their luggage. Hattori Heizo stood behind Heiji with a map. He was studying the map, trying to get an idea of the city. Toyama Kazuha, now his wife, was off to his right, trying to get the pulling strap of her of her rolling suitcase to work properly. To his left, Kudo Yukiko and Yusaku were admiring the sight outside of the glass windows. Next to them were the Detective Boys, Ayumi, Genta, Mitsuhiko and Ai. They were all grown up and mature. Well, except Ai. She was just standing there, will a look of dissatisfaction on her face. They each had a small suitcase and nothing else. Hagase was behind them, probably telling them a 'cold' joke again. He didn't look like he had aged at all, still looking like the 52-year old professor he had been ten years ago. There were a few officers, not uniformed, too. The only ones he recognized were Officer Megure, Satou, Takagi, and Shiratori from the Beika Department and only Otaki from Osaka. Kazuha's father didn't come along because he had another case to look into. 

It took another half an hour to get everyone in the squad cars that Megure and Heizo had called from the police department in California. Megure, Satou, Takagi and Shiratori took a car. Ayumi, Genta, Mitsuhiko, Ai and Hagase got in the next one. Heiji, Kazuha, Heizo and Otaki got in the next. Yukiko and Yusaku rented a motorcycle and followed behind them all.

When the entire group finally arrived at Masako's house, it was already 8 o' clock. Masako got Ran, Sonoko, and Conan in her car and left for the police station. The group from Japan, dropped off most of their bags in the living room, piled back into the cars and followed behind the brown-haired girl's car. Jodie and the other officer she had summoned followed in their own car.

~8:30am, at the police station~

"We were just going to begin the interrogation. He'll be in the room, and you guys," the officer pointed to the entire group in the waiting room, "will stay here, so make yourselves comfortable. We'll have a speaker on so you'll hear everything. See this glass?" He pointed to the glass separating the waiting room from the conference room, "you'll watch through here, and he can see you too. Also, if you want to say anything, just say it because the speakers are two way. Okay, everyone?"

Everyone nodded. The officer left after nodding to Heizo and went down the hallway and turned a corner. 

There were three rows of sofas against the wall and a rectangular table in the middle. One of the sofas faced the glass wall, the other two were lined up perpendicular to it. Hagase, Ai and the Detective Boys took the left sofa. Yukiko, Yusaku, and the police from the Tokyo department took the right sofa. Conan, Ran, Masako, Heizo, Heiji, Otaki, and Sonoko took the one facing the glass wall.

At last, the officer came back with Bourbon, handcuffed and three officers behind him. They led him into the conference room and did some formal introduction before sitting down and turning on the speakers.

"What is your full name?"

"Bourbon." 

The interrogator sighed. "I mean your real name."

Bourbon smirked. "I'll tell you that later."

"Fine, next question is how old are you now?"

"Thirty-two."

"Okay, are you married or single?"

"You'll find out."

The interrogator sighed again. "Okay, fine, next question is......."

The interrogator rattled off many boring questions about the organization, how they operate, how they target, how they....kill? The interrogator, finally got to the question that Conan wanted answered.

"How did you become part of the organization?"

Bourbon was smiling the entire before, and once the question was asked, his smile faded to a cold frown. He was silent for a while. Everyone thought that he had refused to answer that question because the answer could be used against him. Finally, after about 2 minutes of silence, he spoke softly, but hatefully.

"I did not want to _become_ part of the organization, I was forced to join. Gin, I understand you all to know who he is, had done some illegal business with my father's company. My father died mysteriously and I was still pretty young, but I was curious. I wanted to find out why he died, how he died, and who killed him. I started investigating and soon found out stuff about this organization that I wasn't supposed to know about. Then one day, I was walking home from work, the blonde man drove up to me, pointed a gun at me, and told me to get in the car. I thought about running, but decided against it, because there was no one around to see this, and I couldn't get far enough even if I tried. So I got in the car. I didn't know what to expect. Just as sat down, something hit me on the head and I blacked out. Next thing I knew, I was tied up, in a wine cellar. He had shot my leg, which you all know, is my weakness. I couldn't do anything.

"Gin told me that I had two choices. One, join them and live. Second, don't join and die. He said that they had been watching me for some time and they think my skills are pretty high. I used to write mystery novels, but I never got them published. I just wanted to right, so I knew many ways to kill people. Still, I didn't know what to choose and they gave me 24 hours. I was deciding that I would rather die than do something that killed my father and would probably kill hundreds of innocent people, but....."

"But what?" Conan asked.

Bourbon looked at the boy. "But he threatened to kill my girlfriend, Kudo."

Conan's eyes grew big. He looked away. 

"Yes, he threatened to kill my girlfriend if I didn't join, but either way, she'd still be in danger. I finally gave up and agreed, but they had to keep my girlfriend out of this."

"But they didn't," Conan said, as he looked up again, eyes dark with anger.

"Correct, they didn't. A month after I joined, and my leg wound healed, I started doing the double life thing. I'd live like a normal man dating this cute and sweet girlfriend and then I'd also be the head of a small portion of the organization. I would tell the agents who to kill, how to kill them, where to kill and all that dirty stuff. When I'd had gotten used to this stuff and not leaking anything, my girlfriend was killed. I know that I'm not the reason she was killed, but they said they would leave her out this!!!!"

"Was your girlfriend Miyano Akemi?" Conan asked quietly.

Everyone's eyes grew big, including Bourbon's.

"You know her?" Bourbon had a sad glint in his eyes.

"I saw her die."

Bourbon gasped. "You WHAT???????? Why didn't you save her? She could have been alive now; she-"

"He couldn't, Bourbon."

"What?" Bourbon looked at the red-haired girl who spoke. He gasped again. "Sherry!"

"Haibara, not Sherry."

"Sherry, what do you mean?"

"Haibara, and what I mean is that Kudo could _not _save my sister. She was dying by the time he got there."

"But he could have called the-"

"The police, the ambulance? He was lucky to even here her say her last words. Gin makes sure no trace is left behind. My sister's death wouldn't be a different case." Haibara's tone was suddenly very cold.

"What did...did she say?"

"'I don't want to be used anymore.'" Conan and Haibara said in unison.

Conan looked over at Haibara, who just looked at the wall across from her.

Bourbon sighed. "I knew they were using her for something, but I didn't know what. I just really wish that I had made the right decision that time...."

"Then why did you still come and try to kill me?" Conan asked, his blue eyes piercing and sad. "And get the apotoxin?"

"I....don't know.....I just, the gun just....I guess it's the cold blood that still flows in my veins. The apotoxin, well I came to get that so it could be destroyed, but seems like I didn't need to go through the trouble." Bourbon looked over at Conan through the glass. "You're smart, Kudo. Don't do the wrong thing like I did."

Conan just locked gazes with the man. _He is a **killer**, what right does he have to talk to me like this?_

As if to answer Conan's thoughts, Bourbon said, "I guess I have no right to say anything to you, Kudo, after all, I was part of the organization that destroyed your life. You can not listen to me, but I'm warning you, Kudo, _life is not as easy as you think it is...._"

Conan and Bourbon looked at each other for a while, before the interrogator started asking questions again. Just before Bourbon could answer, Conan said, "Who are you really?"

Bourbon paused. "My name is Gary Whiteman. I disguised as Ron Blackville because I knew that no one besides the FBI could detect that I was fake."

The interrogator cleared his throat as he read off the next questions. Bourbon, Gary, answered without hesitation. 

Conan kept his gaze on the man. _He said exactly what Hiroki-kun* said to me before I left the game, about life not being as easy as you think it is. I can't help but feel sorry for him, even if he helped to destroy my life....but I didn't deserve this....still, he had a life, he had family, he had a girlfriend...._Conan looked away. He looked over at Ai, who was still staring at the wall, expressionless. _At least the organization has been destroyed. They won't be able to hurt innocent people anymore..._

Conan sighed as he leaned back, causing Heiji, sitting next to him, to glance over at him. He closed his eyes and listened to the rest of the questioning. 

Two hours later, Bourbon was led back to his cell, while the group exited the police department. The officers stayed to talk to the interrogator and the other officers and everyone else filed out of the small waiting room. Conan exited first, followed by Heiji, Kazuha, Ran and Masako. Sonoko yawned and followed behind the others. Yukiko and Yusaku stayed in to listen to the police and FBI's discussion. Hagase and the Detective Boys walked over to a nearby book store and browsed around through the books.

Heiji leaned on Masako's blue sports car, Kazuha stood next to him. Ran stood next to Conan in front of the car. Sonoko lazily got into the car and waited. Masako stood by the driver's side and glanced at Conan.

Finally, it was Heiji who spoke first. "Kudo, what are you going to do now?"

Conan looked over at the tan-skinned detective. "I honestly don't know. What do you think?"

Before Heiji or anyone could answer to that, Masako cut in. "How about I drive you guys back to my house first? Everyone else will be over later and it may be easier if anyone needs to talk in private."

Conan nodded his approve and then led Ran to the backseat. He opened the door for her as she got in. He got in next to her and kept the door open for Heiji. Kazuha got in the front passenger seat as Heiji slipped in next to Conan and closed the door. Masako watched for a while before opening her door, getting in and starting the engine.

They were home in thirty minutes. Hagase and the Detective Boys arrived a few minutes after them. Ai was the first one in after Masako opened the door and walked straight over to Conan. Conan looked up from the sofa when she stopped in front of him.

"You want to talk?" he asked.

Ai barely moved her head, but he could tell that she needed to talk.

"Okay, hang on...Ran? Can I...I need to, okay, thanks." He got a approving nod from Ran and slipped off the sofa and pointed to his room.

Ai shifted her gaze from his face to the door to the room and then started down the hall for it. When she got to his room, Conan, being right behind her, opened it, waited for her to pass through and then closed it behind him. He sat down on the bed as Ai remained standing near the door.

"What's up?"

Ai hesitated. "Kudo, I think I may have the permanent antidote for APTX4869."

~to be continued~

_Okay, so that was real lame and I really don't know how an interrogation goes, and I was too lazy to go find out, so don't kill me. Tell me what you think and if you know anything, email or review so I can fix it to make it better. Thanks for reading so far, and keep reviewing!! Next chapter will be more about Ran and Shinichi. I'll try to update as soon as possible, but you got to review! Thanks and I'll see you in the next chapter! _

*Hiroki is from the sixth movie, The Phantom of Baker Street. That's the coolest movie!!! If you haven't seen it yet, you should, I really like it. ^_-


	9. Meeting Again

**Disclaimer: Characters from DC belong to their respective owners; I don't own them, except Masako, and Bourbon. **

Chapter 9: Meeting Again

"Kudo, I think I may have the permanent antidote for APTX4869."

Conan was speechless. _What did she say? Did she really say that? _He just stared at Ai, unable to move or say anything.

"Kudo, are you okay?" Ai's tone was soft and warm, so unlike the cold person she had been during the interrogation. 

"I...I'm fine. I'm just surprised that....you....well, I didn't....I mean, I don't....." Conan knew he was stuttering, but he couldn't seem to form a complete sentence.

"Kudo, calm down, I didn't mean to get you all worked up." Ai looked at him worriedly.

"No, no, you didn't. I'm just a bit confused." Conan put his hand on his head and sighed.

"How?" Ai tilted her head to the side, looking at the boy in front of her.

"I thought you told me Kudo was dead. How can he come back to life after being dead for ten years?" Conan looked at her, eyes questioning.

"I thought so too, Kudo, but I knew that no matter how hard you try and what anyone does, you'd never be happy without returning to your normal body." Ai smiled. "So I spent these years experimenting with the information I had left. I think I finally came up with the antidote." She held out a capsule in her hand. 

"Why? Why would you do that? You wouldn't do this for me, just because you want to. Why?" Conan didn't reach for the capsule, just sat there, looking at her with questioning eyes.

"I...........I......" Ai looked away from his gaze. "I......because I love you, Kudo." She looked back into his eyes, which was now complete shock. "I love you."

"What, why, but, you...I....I....don't, can't, no, wait, but you, you don't, you can't, I mean, you said, but what about, I don't...." Conan started stuttering again.

Ai sighed. "I fell in love with you when I first met you. I didn't work on the antidote too much because if you were Conan, you'd be around more, and I was afraid that when you....you.....returned as Kudo, you'd forget me....and.....and.....I didn't want that.....I know I was being selfish...I just didn't want....you to leave me.....and....." Ai knew there were tears in her forming in her eyes now. _But Miyano Shiho doesn't cry, she's never cried. But I'm not Shiho anymore, I'm Haibara Ai. So, I guess Haibara can cry.* _

Ai let the tears go, but continued to speak. "When you decided to leave Japan in fear of hurting those around you and to start over with a new life, I was sad....I was afraid you wouldn't be happy.....no, I _knew_ you wouldn't be happy with Mouri-san, so I wanted to make you happy, so I worked to make this antidote." Ai held out her hand again. "I know that forcing you to love me would never work out.....and that would only cause you to hate me, more if not already, so I just wanted to let you know." Ai wiped her eyes with the hand not holding the pill. 

Conan hopped off the bed and handed her a tissue from the tissue box on his desk. "Here, don't cry anymore."

"Thanks." Ai blew her nose and wiped away the tears. She didn't look at all like she had been crying. She threw away the tissue in the wastebasket by the desk and then turned of face Conan again. He had on that smile again. _That smile that always warms my heart. _Ai smiled. "Here."

Conan took the pill from her and said, "But I'm already where Shinichi used to be, what difference would it make?"

Ai nodded. "I know, there won't be a significant difference in your size, but your voice, and well, you soul will once again return to Kudo Shinichi's."

"Thanks, but I didn't know my voice wasn't mature enough yet." He grinned and took off his glasses.

Ai raised an eyebrow. "Hmm."

"We're getting back to the old times."

"I know, go get some larger and looser clothes, in case you get a bit bigger." Ai opened the door. "I'm leaving in about an hour for Japan."

Conan nodded. "Thanks, again, Ai, and for coming just to get me this."

Ai just nodded as she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Just before the door clicked shut, she heard Conan say, "We'll meet again."

~12:30pm, at the airport~

Haibara Ai checked her purse to make sure her wallet, boarding pass, plane ticket, passport and all the other important documentaries where still with her. She had just eaten a quick lunch at the airport and was preparing to board her flight back to Japan. She was leaving early because there was an exam coming up, and she didn't want to miss it, not like missing would ruin her grade, she had 100% anyway. 

The real reason she was leaving early was because she knew that Kudo would like to have time with Ran alone, so she didn't want to ruin that. Besides, he was happy, so she could be happy. Ai smiled a true, but a bit sad, smile as she gave the attendant her boarding pass and walked through the ramp to the plane. As she looked around for her window seat, she thought of all the times she and Conan had been together. She had chosen not take the antidote so that those happy memories could remain with her forever. Also, this way, the Detective Boys, excluding Conan, would still be her closest friends. Even that way, she was as tall as she would be ten years later, and it wouldn't matter. 

As Ai sat down, she looked out the window. _Good-bye, Kudo. Thank you, for all you've done for me, and I hope we will meet again someday. _She turned when someone tapped her on the shoulder. She turned around in her seat to find a man, with brown hair looking at her. 

"Is this your seat?" He asked pointing to the empty seat next to her.

Ai shook her head. "No, but that seat is G24."

"Really, cool, then that's my seat." The boy smiled as he stuffed his duffel bag in the overhead compartment and sat down next to her.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Hakuba Saguru," he said as he held out his hand.

Ai blinked. _Hakuba Saguru? Nice name. _She shook hands with the boy and said, "My name is Haibara Ai. It's nice to meet you too."

"Ai....I like that name. It's cute. How old are you?"

"Uh...."

"Well, you don't have answer that if you don't want to. I'm 26." Hakuba buckled his seat belt and leaned back in his seat, still looking at her.

"Oh, well I'm.....27." _I'm not, but should be. Oh well, I look that way, don't I?_

"Really? Wow, you look so young, and I thought I was an old man." Hakuba laughed.

Ai chuckled lightly. _He's got a nice sense of humor. He's cute too. I think this will be an even better flight than I expected. _

~12:00 pm, back at Masako's house~

Conan was going through the pain of turning back into Shinichi when Ran knocked on his door. 

"Shin-, I mean, Conan, what's going on? Are you okay? Ai left an hour ago and you still haven't come out. She told us you needed time to think. I don't know what you two have talking about, but are you okay, Shinichi?"

"Yeah, fine. I'll be out in a few minutes. I'm changing. Can you tell Takashiki that we're going to go to the restaurant that I always go to?"

"But I don't know what that is."

"It's okay, she'll know."

"Okay, I'll wait for you in the living room."

"'Kay, thanks. I'll be out in just a minute."

Shinichi pulled on his socks and pulled a sweater over his head. _Wow, I'm back, really back. Everything is a bit small, but I'll get new stuff later. Haibara, thank you. _

Shinichi took one last look at himself in the mirror and then opened the door to his room. He skipped down the hallway and almost knocked over Ran, who was waiting by the door. 

"Hey, thanks for waiting, Ran."

"Shinichi, I mean, Conan, no problem. Masako-san is waiting outside. Whoa, you're not wearing your glasses, and if I'm not mistaken, your voice is deeper." 

"Ai found the antidote and I have finally returned to my true form." 

Ran gasped. "Shinichi....that's wonderful....." She hugged him with such force that he almost lost his balance. 

"Ran....."

"I never thought we would meet again...." Ran said in his sweater.

Shinichi was surprised for a second, then smiled and answered, "Of course, I did not think it was possible either, but you never know. I guess it's because of the red thread tied to our pinkies!" Shinichi held up his pinky as Ran let go of him and winked. He grabbed Ran and led out of the door. 

"Come on, we don't want to starve our stomachs!" And the two adults ran off, united once again.

~to be continued~

_Okay, so this one is a sort of, well, really romantic, so yeah.....Okay, anyways, this is basic the end. I'm writing an epilogue so don't go yet. Keep reviewing!!!! ^^ More on Haibara/Hakuba, Ran/Shinichi, maybe Heiji/Kazuha or Kaito/Aoko later, but it will all be in the epilogue, which might take while if I were to include them all, but I want to get the cute couples together! See you all in the last chapter and review!!!! ^_-_

* Okay, so you might say that I completely got Haibara's character wrong, but think about it. She's had ten years to chill out and what if she did like Conan/Shinichi? She might act differently after going through a second childhood and not having the one person she loved with her. Who knows? So, please don't flame me.....I like it this way. ^^


	10. Coming Home

**Disclaimer: The only characters that belongs to me is Masako and Bourbon, but they don't show up in this chapter. I still wish I owned the cute guys....~*sigh*~**

Epilogue: Coming home

It had been ten years since Kudo Shinichi's 'supposed' death. However, Ai, having at last found the cure to APTX4869 that had shrunk him into Conan, then allowed him to return to his true form. That day, when Kudo Shinichi was reborn, brought a lot of happiness. First, he had taken Ran to a restaurant for lunch and then arriving back at Masako's apartment, had contacted Heiji's dad, Hattori Heizo. After hearing the news, Heizo called Shinichi's parents, who on the spot, ordered plane tickets back to America. Ai had left about three hours ago and would be arriving in Japan in about twelve more hours. 

Heiji rushed over to congratulate his friend as did the Detective Boys. Ayumi, still a bit shy about knowing that Conan was the famous teenage detective, blushed as he talked to her. The Detective Boys, having now changed their name to Detective Teens, exchanged a few words with Shinichi and then left with Hagase afterwards to catch their plane back to Japan. The only ones remain were the police department from Osaka and Tokyo, Ran, Sonoko and Heiji. 

"Hattori, so what did you do about Toyama-san?" Shinichi asked, as he and Heiji looked for a drink to toast in the kitchen. 

Heiji's face became red. "What are you talking about, man?"

"Oh come on, it's been ten years. You've graduated, probably opened an agency somewhere in Osaka and _must_ have already proposed to Toyama-san. Heck, I think you two have married." Shinichi grinned as Heiji's face became as red as it could get under his dark skin. "Seems like I guessed, no deduced, right, ne?"

"Okay, fine. You're right. We've been married for five years, I did open an agency, but I've waiting for you to come back and help me. It's not that easy to run when there's like twenty cases waiting for me everyday. I wanted to come for one, take a vacation, two, to see a good pal. Okay?"

Shinichi smirked.

"Okay, so what about you? You just met neesan, but you must have done something too...." It was Heiji's turn to grin and Shinichi's turn to red, but he didn't. He just laughed.

"Okay, so I proposed to her before my 'supposed' death..."

"I _knew_ that wasn't real."

Nod. "And so I sort of took out the ring I had been saving for the past year and she accepted again. We'll decide on the wedding later, probably when Mom gets here because she so good at that kind of stuff."

"I see...."

"Yeah......so when are you going back to Japan?"

Heiji froze. "You _want_ me to leave?"

"No, no, no, you got it wrong. I just wanted to know when you'd be going back so I, well, I want to go back to Japan, but....."

"But what, Kudo?" Heiji looked angry and sad.

"Well, I've already died as Kudo Shinichi in Japan, so if I return, it would be hard to explain and I, well, don't want to upset any more people because of this......"

"You could always adopt a new identity..."

"But, I _am_ Kudo Shinichi. I'll never be anyone else anymore. I can't _hide_ myself from others. If I did adopt a new identity, I would never be whoever I pretend to be....." Shinichi sighed as she sipped his soda.

"Kudo, come back to Japan with us. You know that you'll always be helpful! Besides, my agency needs you. I'll never be able to find another buddy to co-work with." Heiji slammed his soda can down on the counter. "Damn it, Kudo. What's wrong? You've returned to your normal body, you have neesan, she knows the truth, loves you, and same goes for you, so what else are you missing????????"

"A home, Hattori. I don't have anywhere to go. This apartment has been my home for ten years now. That's a long time. I appreciate your care, but, I can't just go.....I know you need me in the agency, but Hattori, you have to understand....I _have no where to go_." Shinichi sighed again. 

"Kudo, you are," Heiji grabbed Shinichi's shoulders and looked in his eyes as he shouted, "ALWAYS WELCOME AT MY HOUSE!!!!" Heiji looked into those pools of blue and said softly, "You can come and live with me and Kazuha. You have always been a brother to me and I don't intend to abandon you now."

Shinichi smiled. "Thanks, Heiji. You were always a great pal and brother to me, especially during the time I was Conan." He pushed Heiji's hands away. "But you and Kazuha need your space, don't sacrifice just for me."

"I am NOT sacrificing anything." Heiji crossed his arms. "If you're not going back to Japan with me..............then I'll make neesan make you." He smirked.

Shinichi's eyes grew wide. "What do you mean?"

"You'll see," Heiji's grin grew even wider as he turned to leave the room. "You'll see." He tossed his empty soda can into the wastebasket and left. 

"Wait, Hattori, what are you going to do, I mean, WAIT!!!!!!" Shinichi ran after the retreating boy, dropping his empty can into the wastebasket on his way out too. 

~2 weeks later, 9:15pm ~

"I don't how you did this, Hattori, but I am seriously going to _kill_ you when we land," Shinichi growled from his aisle seat. He was next to Ran, who had fallen asleep and was using his shoulder as a pillow. Kazuha sat next to Ran. Heiji sat next to her. The four of them were sitting in the middle row of the plane. Kazuha had fallen asleep too, and was using Heiji's arm as her pillow.

Heiji looked up from the book he was reading. He yawned. "Don't you get tired of saying that, Kudo? You've only said it about 20 million times in the last hour. Besides, it's another....." Heiji checked his watch with his free arm, "10 hours before we land. We just taxied out of the airport 5 hours ago and you've said that sentence over 80 times."

Shinichi glared at his tan detective friend. "10 hours should be PLENTY of time for you to EXPLAIN how you got Ran to drag me back to Japan with you guys."

Heiji smirked. "That will be for later, first I need to finish studying for an exam." Heiji looked down again as he _felt_ Shinichi's glare darken. He smiled. 

_It's not that hard, Kudo. You just have to get Dad to get an extra plane ticket, get you another passport, all the legal documentaries.....and then get neesan to pack your things......then drag you to the airport. Once on the plane, which took quite a lot of yelling, screaming, swearing....and shoving, you had no where to go. I mean, I don't think you'd jump the plane, now would you, Kudo? _Heiji sighed. _I hate studying, why do I have to study? I know all this. If it weren't that Dad is sitting right behind me, I'll throw this book at Kudo to get him to lighten up._

Heiji sneaked a glance behind him. His father, Hattori Heizo was talking to Otaki. Next to them were Takagi and Satou, who were talking quite cheerfully to each other. Across the aisle from them were Shiratori and Megure. In front of them, which was across the aisle from Shinichi, was Kudo Yukiko and Yusaku. Yusaku had looked up from his mystery novel when Shinichi talked to Heiji, but paid no attention to their argument. Yukiko was sleeping soundly on her husband's shoulder. 

Heiji sighed. _Might as well take a nap. _He closed his book, and stuffed it into his backpack under the seat. He slid down in his seat just a bit to get into a more comfortable position and making sure that his arm was still supporting Kazuha's head, closed his eyes and waited for sleep to catch him.

~10 hours later, 7:25am~

"Hey, Kudo! How does it feel to be back?" Heiji punched his friend playfully on the shoulder.

Shinichi raised two eyebrows and blinked. "Fine, but if anyone wonders why I'm not a ghost, you'll do the explaining."

"Cheer up, man! Megure, your dad, my dad and all the other officers already have that settled, saying they had mistaken that person for you, something like that. Besides, you're going to get married!!!!!" Heiji said as he slung his arm across Shinichi's shoulders.

Shinichi blushed at this, as did Ran who was talking to Kazuha behind them. Heiji had been talking a _bit_ loud.....

The group made their way through the airport and finally arrived home at 8:30am.

Shinichi fell asleep on the couch of Ran's house right after he dropped his bag. He hadn't been to Japan for such a long time; it was hard getting used to the time difference. Eri and Kogoro came in soon afterwards, telling Ran that they were going off to work. Eri, still a lawyer and Kogoro, once again hired as a police officer.

Ran fell asleep on the other couch soon afterwards. 

~7:45am~

Kazuha and Heiji made their way to the hotel they were staying in. They had an apartment in Osaka, but wanted to stay an extra few days to be with their friends. As Kazuha climbed in bed, Heiji said, "Ka-chan?"

"Hmm?" She answered sleepily from under the covers.

Heiji climbed into bed next to her. "Are you tired?"

Kazuha cracked open an eye. "Sort of. You?"

"Okay," he answered as he lay down. They were silent for a while. "Ka-chan?"

"Yeah?" Kazuha turned over to look at him. He was looking at her too.

"I wonder what will happen after this."

"What do you mean, Heiji?" She was wide awake now.

"I mean, to us, to Kudo and neesan, the Detective Boys, no I mean, Teens, and....to everyone else too." He looked at her, slightly smiling, yet so serious.

"What do you mean what will happen to us? Kudo-san and Ran-chan are fine. We're fine. Besides, what else could go wrong?"

"You never know...." Heiji yawned. "Forget it, let's take nap. I need to catch up on my sleep; Kudo wouldn't stop talking to me on the plane, hardly slept."

Kazuha yawned too. "Yeah, night, well, afternoon, actually..."

"Yeah......"

The adults were soon fast asleep. 

~8:30pm~

The two couples had gotten together for dinner at this fancy restaurant. The two girls were talking about all the shopping they were going to do while waiting for their meals to arrive. The boys were, however, awfully quiet. Shinichi had yawned for the fourth time in the last 15 minutes. 

"Kudo, you look so sleepy!" Heiji looked over at his friend with concern.

"Well, I still haven't gotten over the time difference, probably because I was gone for so long, and I never really enjoyed plane rides. I fall asleep right away, but I somehow couldn't on the plane ride here." Shinichi yawned again. "Still, I guess I have to thank you for dragging me back here. It's nice to come home."

Heiji grinned. "You finally called it home."

"Ehh?"

"Never mind."

"You are darn weird today, Hattori." Shinichi took a sip of his tea

"I see, so when are you two getting married?"

Shinichi almost spit out his hot tea in his friend's face. "Hattori!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Stop asking!!! I'll tell you when we decide, okay? Don't make such a big deal about it, besides, I didn't get to go to _your_ wedding...."

"Alright, alright, so....."

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! MURDER!!!!"

Heiji and Shinichi turned toward the sound. The wanted to get up and investigate, but their wife and wife-to-be, were right there. They couldn't just abandon them.

"Uhh, probably just some little thing......going on....." Shinichi said.

"Yeah, nothing much....." Heiji said.

Kazuha and Ran glanced at each other and nodded. "Okay, so we KNOW you two are dying to go solve the mystery, so go on already!" Ran said as she cupped her face in the palms of her hands.

Kazuha smiled sweetly at Heiji. "You'll be back, won't you?"

"Uhh, yeah.....Let's go, Kudo!" Heiji got up, smiled apologetically at Kazuha and grabbed Shinichi's arm. Shinichi nodded at Ran, and said, "Don't worry; I know I'll come back. I promise, serious," before running off after the Osaka detective.

Ran sighed. "Who told us to fall in love with detective nerds?"

"Well, mysteries are a part of them, so we can't keep that from them." Kazuha said as she sighed. "But let's forget the boys and talk about something else....."

Ran nodded as she listened and chatted away the night with her best friend. _This is a happy ending, isn't it? _

THE END 

Completed: April 7, 2004

Author's notes: _Okay, so that was a weird ending, but no, it's not REALLY the ending....sorry can't think of stuff now.....three tests in a row yesterday, my brain's still out of it.....okay so this isn't a real ending because I'm planning on making a short sequel to it, a real short one, probably one-shot or something. I hope you all liked it, and thanks for reading! Please review and tell me what you want in the sequel, okay? Also, email me for any mistakes you want me to fix. Thanks again and please review!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_

_~mysteriousangelgirl~_


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